Originally Posted by
jungle
Just to point out a fairly important distinction, accurate and professional profiling is not about race, sex, age or any other trite category some have mentioned. It is about a highly specific method of singling out certain categories of behavior. One way cash ticket? No luggage on a lengthy flight? Nothing in the data base about this individual?
It is being used now in many areas, it will be used more over time. It has a lot to do with a very expansive data base, and that data base is growing exponetially. The algorithms used can be modified rapidly. It is transparent to the passenger.
You might want to ask yourself why biometric IDs aren't being used. The systems are accurate, cheap and highly effective. It would save a lot of workload and eliminate a lot of labor in the wrong place(maybe that has something to do with it).
This is a great point. One of the best ideas I've heard in the last few years is "reverse profiling." Essentially taking known non-threats (ie crewmembers, frequent vetted travelers, military, etc) from the pool of people to be screened. This would free TSA up to go after the remaining pool without wasting their time on the majority that does not pose a threat.
The obvious challenge would be to make the vetting and verification process error free. Something similar to a crewpass or cass system is a good start. I wonder if this has been seriously considered by the high ups.